End of the year 2016

I got a new road bike at the local bike shop in Ephraim on the day before Thanksgiving.  I got a screaming good deal on it.  It does feel better and fits me more nicely, it is more upright and I feel like I can do longer distances on it.  It's an endurance type bike, not a race bike like my Klein.  I am going to keep my Klein for collection.

Plus it's an eleven speed in the back so it has two lower gears in the back just in case they pave the Ephraim Canyon Road next year.

This is my first fat bike snow ride this year on December 3rd which was Global Fat Bike Day.  I had a good ride and it was fun.  I rode on Rabbit Run Trail and then around Black Hill.

I remember it being cold that morning but it still felt nice from the hot summer.

Last weekend, I did a Moab hiking trip.  It snowed a lot in the mountain valleys in Utah and as drove out of the desert, there was a little or no snow.  This was at a rest stop on I-70.

When I got there, I hiked Corona Arch.  There was NO ONE there. (Another arch by it in the picture above)

I took my dog, Duke with me.  He really enjoyed as much as me.

Duke just makes the Corona Arch better with him in it.

After Corona Arch, we had enough time to do the Stairmaster Trail just outside of Moab.

It just goes straight up on a steep climb with an elevation gain of 900 feet just in 1 mile.  The trail was all about aerobic and I loved it.

At the top....

....then looking east above Moab.  We walked back down and made it before dark.

Then we stayed in a pet friendly motel.  This was the first time Duke stayed in a motel and it was fun.  We watched TV.

The next morning, we hiked at Fisher Towers.

There was a little bit of snow because Fisher Towers is closer to the mountains and a little higher.

Pretty cool.  Movies were filmed there.

We made it to the ladder and back.  We couldn't do the whole trail because things got hairy because of the snow.  So we turned around at 1.5 miles.  There were a few other people on the trail and all of these trails we did in Moab were dog friendly trails.  Really nice.  So we went home the Cisco way and made it home from there.  Hiking is a very good activity to do in Moab especially in the winter time.  I'd do it again.  Plus, there is no one else around in the winter time, so you got the whole place to yourself.

Yesterday's bike ride.  Now there are a lot of snow in Ephraim and good enough to ride in Black Hill.  I even did a night ride in a snowstorm on Kane Valley Road on a weekday last week.  That's what happens when you got to work until dark.  Winter daylight hours are a little weasey.  I might do more cold, dark night rides more often after work.  It's not so bad, I actually had fun that night.

Well, did I tell you I have a cat at work?  A ferrel cat just showed up one day then wouldn't leave.  So I started to take care of it and feed it.

The cat's name is "Cat".  He is really affectionate and gets along with the dogs.

Lou Lee, the puppy at the shop plays with Cat all the time at the shop.  It's fun to watch them.
One day, somebody walked in and said, "Has this shop turned in a petting zoo?"  Laugh out loud!

Fall Rides 2016

Here's one of my dusk rides after work.  Here I was just sprinting around town and took this lovely picture.  Now it's time change and it's going to be dark when I get home from work now.  Now I have to wait until March 2017 to ride after work again.  I'm not looking forward to it, but thank goodness it'll be cold out.

One weekend, which was UEA weekend, I did a road bike ride since all of the hunters were in the mountains.  I rode from Elsinore to Big Rock Candy Mountain and back, then rode to Richfield and back after that.

It was a nice bike path all the way on my ride which was very awesome.

I wish Sanpete County has bike paths, it would be really nice to not ride on the highways.  That is why I don't road bike much.  But I do love mountain biking more though.

I did a total of 50 miles that day.  It was a good ride and a nice day.

The following evening, I took Jeri and Duke on a walk on the top of the Flume.  They loved the nice walk.  Lot's of hunters out there.

One morning, it was a nice foggy morning and I took some pictures around work.

The cabinet shop is located on a small cattle farm.

Bella

My boss got a Border Collie puppy and this was the first time I saw her.  She is really cute.

Another weekend I went on a short Moab trip.  At first, on Friday, my mom and I traveled to Green River, where we stayed, then we went to the John Wesley Powell Museum.  It was really cool and I thought the movie was fantastic.  It won some awards too.

The next morning, we went to Moab and I did my bike ride while my mom went to Dead Horse Point.

I rode up on Chisholm Trail, which was a very gentle climb with lots of technical obstacles to go over but not too hard.

Then I turned around at the end of Chisholm and backtracked.

At the end, I rode at Rocky Tops area and it was all mostly slickrock but had a bunch more people on these trails.

At the end, a nice view.  On the way home, we picked up some Green River melons (THE BEST).

I went on a Sunday walk on the day after at home and this is what I ran into.  A sign that said,
"Future site of toll booth".  I thought it was real for a moment but it turned out later in the week that the local paper said it was a prank.  That 's good.  But I did hear that the canyon road will be paved until Willow Creek.  That's just a rumor.  But if it's true, I might have to get out my road bike to ride up it.

Then this weekend, I did another road bike ride down near Sevier, which is down by Big Rock Candy Mountain.  I wanted to ride up Clear Creek Canyon for a while, so I did.

It was a gentle climb passing Fremont Indian State Park Museum and through these cliffs.

So cool.

At the end of the climb, it got steeper and harder and it really pushed me.  It ended at the I-70 entrance.

I then turned around and just cruised downhill for 13 miles back to the trailhead in Sevier.

It was a nice 30 mile ride and I saw only 5 cars that passed by, and yes, I counted.  It was really nice and I won't be surprised that I would be doing this ride again.  Because it's a fun climb (and kind of easy) and no people at all.  And the scenery is very good.